Made Arya Kencana, Denpasar – The usually sedate national congress of the Indonesian Farmers Association has suddenly become a who's who of political heavyweights thanks to a string of big-name candidates vying to become the organization's next chairperson.

While much of the talk among the candidates is of improving the lives of farmers, many observers believe the sudden interest in leading the association, or HKTI, is more about shoring up grassroots support for national elections in 2014.

Fadli Zon, secretary of the congress's organizing committee and a close confidant of the current HKTI chairman, Prabowo Subianto, said on Monday that despite the appearance of major political players, the association would not allow itself to be drawn into party politics.

Prabowo, a retired Army general and top official at the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), faces a potential showdown with his ex-wife, Siti Hediyati "Titiek" Hariyadi, a Golkar Party deputy secretary general and the daughter of the late President Suharto.

Titiek is running on her family links to the HKTI, which supported Suharto during his three decades in power. The association's influence has faded since the downfall of the dictator in 1998.

Also in the running to lead the association are Jafar Hafsal, a legislator from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, Benni Pasaribu, from the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), and former Agriculture Minister Anton Apriantono, from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

Another prominent candidate is former Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, though he is considered a long shot.

"We welcome all of the candidates running for chairperson, but we maintain that the HKTI is a purely nonprofit organization and should not be used as a political tool to galvanize farmers' votes," Fadli said.

He denied claims that Prabowo had used the association to muster votes during his failed presidential run last year. The president usually opens the congress, but the organizing committee conspicuously failed to invite Yudhoyono this year, fueling speculation of a still-simmering feud between Prabowo and the president.

But the HKTI's secretary, Rachmat Pambudy, denied the rumors. "The decision not to invite Yudhoyono was a purely logistical one," he said.